About the Winner
Broadness of impact was one of our main criteria in judging the Greenest winners this year, and Nest certainly earned their spot as runner up in the Top Ten Greenest home-based businesses of 2008. Rebecca Kousky's Nest provides interest-free microfinance loans to women artisans and craftswomen in developing countries. They're unique in the microlending world in that they let the women repay their loans in products that Nest then markets and sells, using the profits to replenish their microlending kitty. This allows their loans to be interest-free, thus better serving poor women and their families. Additionally, they parter with artists and designers from the United States and Europe who help them fundraise by selling exclusive products under the Nest label. Kousky started this worldwide business at age 24 from her apartment.
Cool, you say, but how is it green? When people have viable economic stability, poaching and selling of animals goes away. When they have a stove to cook their dinner, there is less need to over harvest already stressed woodlands. By helping people across the globe attain a basic livelihood, sustainability in far flung regions becomes a possibility, too. And that's Nest's gift to the world.
